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Frieri apologetic, D-backs upset over hit-by-pitch

Goldschmidt goes on disabled list after breaking left hand

D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt talks about being placed on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured left hand

By Tom Singer and Adam Lichtenstein
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MLB.com |

PHOENIX -- Aaron Hill best described the feeling in the D-backs' clubhouse after news that All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was being placed on the disabled list with a fractured left hand.

"I don't know if that's a common injury, but it seems like we've just been kind of snake bitten," he said before Saturday's game against the Pirates.

Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch from Pirates reliever Ernesto Frieri in the ninth inning of Friday's game, won by Pittsburgh, 9-4. Goldschmidt entered in the top of the ninth as a defensive replacement and had just the one plate appearance, after having been slated to have a full day off. He stayed in the game and took first base.

Frieri was apologetic after he heard the news of the first baseman's injury and said the pitch was not intentional.

"I was so sorry when I heard he had to go on the DL," he said. "I didn't think it was that bad.

"I don't even know if I ever faced him before. But even if he had done something against me, I'm not the kind of guy who would want to get even for that. I pitch inside, and I'll keep doing that. With the Angels, I stayed away, to both left- and right-handed hitters, and when I came here I knew I had to change."

D-backs catcher Miguel Montero, however, was upset by the pitch -- a 93-mph fastball that ran high and inside on the right-handed Goldschmidt -- and by the fact that several D-backs players had suffered injuries after being hit in the hand. Hill and former D-back Willie Bloomquist both missed time with hand injuries last year, and outfielder A.J. Pollock is currently on a rehab assignment after a pitch from the Reds' Johnny Cueto fractured his right hand in May.

"Obviously the guys have been trying to go in on our guys and not going in to get them out," Montero said. "Apparently, they're going in up to hurt them because they're going in too high. ... It's been happening over and over and over and over, and it's just getting old, you know?

"Guys command the fastball that well, and then just, 'Oh, one came out of my hand like that, and I hurt him in the hand.' What if it's in the head?"

Pitcher Bronson Arroyo was a little more understanding. Although he was upset Goldschmidt may miss the rest of the season, he said he doesn't expect opposing pitchers to throw down the middle -- no matter the score.

"I find it hard to believe that anybody on the defensive side of the ball could honestly say there's ... some point in the game where you don't throw inside," he said.

"There's a lot of guys that are fighting tooth-and-nail to stay in the Major Leagues, and to tell a guy like that to give up two runs in the ninth inning because you're team's up by seven because you can't pitch inside is crazy."

The D-backs have been battling injuries all season. Five pitchers are currently on the disabled list after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and Goldschmidt is now the third everyday starter to wind up on the DL with a serious injury.

"It hurts, because obviously all the injuries that we've had all year and we've been battling through it. Now this major injury right here, and it just hurts," Montero said.

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog Change for a Nickel. He can also be found on Twitter @Tom_Singer. Adam Lichtenstein is an associate reporter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.